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- All HBS Web
(4,207)
- People (5)
- News (806)
- Research (2,676)
- Events (20)
- Multimedia (48)
- Faculty Publications (1,849)
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- October 2013 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Shikhar Ghosh and Matthew Preble
In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model... View Details
Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry
Cespedes, Frank V., Shikhar Ghosh, and Matthew Preble. "Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion." Harvard Business School Case 814-034, October 2013. (Revised April 2015.)
- October 2024
- Article
How to Use Sales Assessments
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Judging a person’s fit for a sales job is complex, and research shows that managers greatly overrate their ability to predict someone’s performance on the basis of interviews. Hence, using assessments is a growing trend in sales hiring and training. This article... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. "How to Use Sales Assessments." Top Sales Magazine (October 2024), 10–11.
- January 2017 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Sales Razor Technologies
By: Paul Gompers and Noam Wasserman
Describes the issues facing a founder-CEO regarding building a board of directors, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work. View Details
Keywords: Information Technology; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Conflict Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Employees; Management Teams; Product Development; Technology Industry
Gompers, Paul, and Noam Wasserman. "Sales Razor Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 217-040, January 2017. (Revised September 2017.)
- November 2019
- Article
How Do Sales Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Analysis in the Nerlove-Arrow Framework
By: Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim and Byoung G. Park
This paper evaluates the short- and long-term value of sales representatives’ detailing visits to different types of physicians. By understanding the dynamic effect of sales calls across heterogeneous physicians, we provide guidance on the design of optimal call... View Details
Keywords: Nerlove-Arrow Framework; Stock-of-goodwill; Dynamic Panel Data; Serial Correlation; Instrumental Variables; Sales Effectiveness; Detailing; Analytics and Data Science; Sales; Analysis; Performance Effectiveness; Pharmaceutical Industry
Chung, Doug J., Byungyeon Kim, and Byoung G. Park. "How Do Sales Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Analysis in the Nerlove-Arrow Framework." Management Science 65, no. 11 (November 2019): 5197–5218.
- September 2016
- Supplement
ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews
By: Mark N. Roberge
Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details
- 1989
- Book
Sales Promotion Management
By: John A. Quelch
Quelch, John A. Sales Promotion Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. (Japanese translation, 1991.)
- February 2020
- Case
Drift: The First Sales Hire
By: Mark Roberge
David Cancel and Elias Torres, the co-founders of Drift, scaled their business to thousands of users and hundreds of thousands in revenue. However, they were falling short of the annual revenue target they communicated to the board of directors. Having scaled the... View Details
Roberge, Mark. "Drift: The First Sales Hire." Harvard Business School Case 820-103, February 2020.
- July 9, 2019
- Article
Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics
By: Doug J. Chung, Isabel Huber, Vinay Murthy, Varun Sunku and Marije Weber
Sales compensation is a critical lever in motivating a salesforce and driving growth in the business-to-business sector: Studies show that revising compensation in line with market trends can have a 50% greater impact on sales than advertisements have, for instance. A... View Details
Keywords: Analytics; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives
Chung, Doug J., Isabel Huber, Vinay Murthy, Varun Sunku, and Marije Weber. "Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics." Harvard Business Review (website) (July 9, 2019).
- 05 Dec 2023
- Cold Call Podcast
What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing
Keywords: Re: Mark N. Roberge
- September 2024
- Article
Sales Coaching and Value Creation
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Despite the prevalence of “coachability” in firms’ stated hiring criteria, managers over-estimate the amount of time they actually devote to coaching their people. For example, research indicates that only 15% of sales managers even spend as much as 25% of their time... View Details
Keywords: Competency and Skills; Employee Relationship Management; Management Practices and Processes
Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Coaching and Value Creation." Top Sales Magazine (September 2024), 20–21.
- May 3, 2023
- Article
What Top-Performing Sales Managers Do Differently
By: Mike Schultz and Frank V. Cespedes
Sales managers hire reps, influence their training, provide (we hope) feedback and so reinforce good selling behaviors, and are key in the execution of growth and change initiatives. In a study of more than 1,000 sales managers and sellers across industries, we found... View Details
Schultz, Mike, and Frank V. Cespedes. "What Top-Performing Sales Managers Do Differently." TrainingIndustry.com (May 3, 2023).
- July 2024
- Article
AI, ROI, and Sales Productivity
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a loose term for many different things and at the peak of its hype curve. So managers hitch-their-pitch to the term in arguing for resources. But like any technology, its business value depends upon actionable use cases embraced by... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. "AI, ROI, and Sales Productivity." Top Sales Magazine (July 2024), 12–13.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Fire Sales of Safe Assets
By: Gabor Pinter, Emil Siriwardane and Danny Walker
We use trade-level data to study price pressure effects in the UK gilt market from September to October 2022. During this period, forced sales by liability-driven investment funds (LDIs) led to price discounts on the order of 10%, accounting for roughly half the total... View Details
Pinter, Gabor, Emil Siriwardane, and Danny Walker. "Fire Sales of Safe Assets." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-015, September 2024.
- October 2005 (Revised February 2008)
- Case
Sales Force Integration at FedEx (A)
By: David B. Godes
Federal Express' (FedEx) recent acquisition of RPS--a ground delivery firm--gave the firm the potential to offer a single source for a client's delivery needs. However, to deliver on this potential, the firm needed to deliver the integrated solution through a single... View Details
Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Salesforce Management; Transportation; Compensation and Benefits; Transportation Industry
Godes, David B. "Sales Force Integration at FedEx (A)." Harvard Business School Case 506-029, October 2005. (Revised February 2008.)
- May 1997 (Revised October 2005)
- Supplement
Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference
By: Ashish Nanda
Supplements the (A) case. Includes excerpts from speeches by Ecolab president Al Schuman, CEO Sandy Grieve, and three senior sales executives, and highlights the camaraderie and goodwill among senior executives of Ecolab's Institutional Division. May be used in place... View Details
Nanda, Ashish. "Ecolab, Inc. (G): Institutional Sales Conference." Harvard Business School Video Supplement 397-105, May 1997. (Revised October 2005.)
- May 2020
- Article
Sales Leadership During and After the Crisis
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Because customer acquisition and retention are the lifeblood of a for-profit enterprise, sales activities establish foundational conditions for a business. In turn, sales managers’ responsibilities in a crisis extend beyond keeping the lights on. Their leadership makes... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Leadership During and After the Crisis." Top Sales Magazine (May 2020), 28–29.
- November 1, 2022
- Other Article
The Sales Success Matrix
By: Jim Dickie, Boris Groysberg, Benson P. Shapiro and Barry Trailer
Dickie, Jim, Boris Groysberg, Benson P. Shapiro, and Barry Trailer. "The Sales Success Matrix." Harvard Business Review (website) (November 1, 2022).
- November 1994 (Revised May 1998)
- Background Note
Strategic Sales Management: A Boardroom Issue
By: Benson P. Shapiro, Stephen X. Doyle and Adrian J. Slywotsky
Explains why sales management has become an increasingly important and complex topic for top managers. Demonstrates the financial impact of a superior salesforce and then describes a way to gain superiority. The focus is on a salesforce that is responsive to customer... View Details
Shapiro, Benson P., Stephen X. Doyle, and Adrian J. Slywotsky. "Strategic Sales Management: A Boardroom Issue." Harvard Business School Background Note 595-018, November 1994. (Revised May 1998.)
- October 1988 (Revised November 2006)
- Background Note
Aspects of Sales Management: An Introduction
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Discusses certain general issues that affect sales-management requirements in most companies: 1) the nature of the salesperson's "boundary role" in the organization, and 2) the relevance and limits of compensation policies as a key means of affecting the salesperson's... View Details
Keywords: Salesforce Management
Cespedes, Frank V. "Aspects of Sales Management: An Introduction." Harvard Business School Background Note 589-061, October 1988. (Revised November 2006.)
- June 2017 (Revised September 2021)
- Case
Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank
Set in early 2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the lead up to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Design; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Business Organization; Business Model; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Governance Compliance; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Resignation and Termination; Laws and Statutes; Legal Liability; Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Failure; Agency Theory; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Salesforce Management; Public Opinion; Banking Industry; North and Central America
Srinivasan, Suraj, Dennis W. Campbell, Susanna Gallani, and Amram Migdal. "Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank." Harvard Business School Case 118-009, June 2017. (Revised September 2021.)